Want an electric bike, but the Brammo Enertia is too modern for you? Check out Hammarhead Industries Volta 102!

Based on a classic, James Hammarhead takes a Indian-made 2002-2009 Royal Enfield Bullet, and creates his Volta 102 using a 102 Volt LIFEPO4 pack 6KW battery mounted in the frame to power an EnerTrac MHM-602 motor, engineered and manufactured by EnerTrac Corp., in the rear hub.

Construction takes about 90 days and will cost you a whopping US$18,500 though!

More at the Hammarhead website.

Star Trek is a 2009 science fiction film directed by J. J. Abrams and written by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman. It is the eleventh film based on the Star Trek franchise and features the main characters of the original Star Trek series, who are portrayed by a brand new cast.

The film uses the concept of time travel to introduce an alternate timeline that revises the continuity of the original series and the previous movies. It explores the previously unexplored origin stories of James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) and Spock (Zachary Quinto), before they unite aboard the USS Enterprise to combat Nero (a heavily disguised Eric Bana), a Romulan from the future who threatens the United Federation of Planets and Earth itself!

Growing up without his father, Kirk becomes an intelligent, reckless, and cynical young man. However, as many intelligent but reckless and cynical young man do, he rides a motorcycle. Not just any motorcycle, mind you but some sort of futuristic, hub-less, spoke-less non-internal combustion engine model.

バイカーブードゥー

Some of us may remember Akira, a 1988 Japanese anime film version by Katsuhiro Otomo, which was based on his original manga comic story. The story is about characters in post-nuclear war 2019 Tokyo, where Neo-Tokyo is filled with protestors, teenage bikers, soldiers and street gangs.

Central character Kaneda, a biker who attends reform school battles with his Capsule Motorcycle Club against the Clown bike gang and rides a really cool (how can he afford it!?) bike which has been the subject of the manga, anime and several attempts to produce 1:1 scale Akira-influenced bikes. Bandai also made a highly detailed model, which I recently acquired (and will review here later). McFarlane Toys had earlier made a plastic version whereas the Bandai version seems to have a metal subframe and lots of options to remove and add on bodywork.

In the anime, the sound of the Kaneda bike was produced by mixing the sound of a 1929 Harley-Davidson with the sound of a jet engine! The design was supposedly by a former Honda R&D engineer who left Honda to work for White House, a Japanese custom bike company. The manga showed the Kaneda bike with a Honda logo whereas the anime had a (sort of) BMW logo.

The Kaneda bike has become something of a motorcycling icon, despite being a work of fiction! Thousands of moped riders in Malaysia and elsewhere proudly placed ‘Akira’ stickers on their helmets, and the bike has embedded itself in the psyche of bikers everywhere. In addition to the manga, anime, toys and DIY replicas, an upcoming live action movie is in the works. More on that later.

バイカーブードゥー

You may have already read about the Swiss-designed Acabion GTBO, a two-wheeled enclosed motorcycle with a 750hp turbo-charged engine dreamed up by Lenka Mikova and Peter Maskus. It sure looks impressive, doesn’t it? It’s basically an enclosed hybrid-drive (electric motor assisted for low speeds) motorcycle which runs on two wheels under normal running conditions, with two outrigger wheels which lower themselves automatically at low speeds if balance is lost, or at high speeds. The aerodynamic shape is touted to enable the Acabion to save fuel, become very efficient and economical to run.

But the question begs to be asked … just how practical is it? For one thing the prices start at 1.83 MILLION Euros. That’s US$2.714 million / RM8.733 million, which is just mind boggling as I believe that’s about what Kenny Dreer‘s new Norton Commando took to develop! It takes three years to build an Acabion so be prepared to wait. What’s the turning circle like on this thing (it looks long)? How does it fare in start-stop urban traffic?

I’ve always been interested in alternative modes of travel so the Acabion really intrigued me, and it pains me to write something that sounds negative but transportation and mobility shouldn’t be only for a selected elite. Without prejudice, sorry Acabion but in my humble opinion right now even a T-Rex or a Carver are starting to look more affordable!

バイカーブードゥー

Brammo Motorsports, headed by CEO Craig Bramscher first came to my attention by producing the Ariel Atom in the US under licence from Ariel UK. Recently they’ve ventured into Electric Bikes! The Brammo Enertia electric bike is an urban commuter bike which can exceeds 80 km/h and has a 60 km range on a single 3-hour charge. At roughly US$.32 a fill-up and under one-cent a mile – it is positioned to be the compelling green alternative for the new urban consumer.

Let’s take an in-depth look at the Brammo Enertia Bike. Text adapted from Enertia Bike website.

CONCEPT

The Enertia was designed as a response to issues like global warming and overdependence on foreign oil. Brammo Motorsports decided to focus on elements which exposed the fun aspects of bike riding by designing a lightweight electric motorcycle.

A balance between the past and present was sought after and it appears Brammo have achieved something truly extraordinary. Their choice of materials, colours and textures bring out a sense of the highest levels of quality.

CHASSIS

Basically a stiff connection between the front fork and rear suspension pivot, the Enertia’s chassis took a lot of brainstorming, conceptualizing and trials before the design team arrived at the chassis you see here. It’s hard to make things simple!

The Brammo Enertia chassis is basically an “H” shaped beam which is left exposed from the side of the Enertia as an exposed carbon fiber line from the neck down to the rear suspension pivot. The “H” beam carries the batteries by forming two opposing trays which hold 3 batteries facing upwards and 3 downward-facing batteries. The electric motor is structurally face-mounted in the motor bay, upon which the rear suspension pivot is located. The ingenious packaging of the Enertia results in a compact electric bike with excellent stiffness and centralisation of mass. This in turn enables the Enertia Bike to handle easily and maneuver at all speeds. To date this is the most ingeniously packaged e-bike I’ve ever seen!

A hollow carbon fibre monocoque frame was designed for extreme lightness and stiffness, while managing to remain extremely simple. The frame weights only 7.3kg, much less than conventional production bike frames.

Brammo’s composite team lays up resin-impregnated carbon fibre fabric which is cut into specific shapes on a computer controlled machine, into CNC machined moulds. The fabric is layed up with a specific orientation and layering method. After this process is complete the chassis is baked in an autoclave at temperatures up to 350° F. The chassis is then clear coated for UV protection and aesthetics.

POWERTRAIN

Unlike conventional motorcycles, the Enertia Bike was engineered to have no transmission. The electric motors output shaft delivers power to the rear wheel directly via chain drive. The rear suspension consists of a high strength steel tubing swing arm and an adjustable air shock.

PERFORMANCE

Blessed with low inertia, the Enertia is able to put out 100% of its torque from ZERO rpm! At its fastest setting, the Enertia accelerates from 0-30mph in 3.8 seconds. A choice of power settings enables the Enertia rider to choose between high power/shorter range and lower power/maximum range. There’s also Brammo’s ‘Momentum software‘ to enable the owner to download information on their own driving habits so that performance settings can be customised.

The average US commuter travels about 47 miles at an average speed of 52 km/h daily. The Brammo Enertia can go up to 72 kilometres at 40 km/h. Top speed however, is 80 km/h!

ADVANCED BATTERY TECHNOLOGY

Six Lithium Phosphate battery modules are used in the Enertia. Supplied by Valence Technologies, Inc. of Austin, Texas, these batteries provide exceptional life and safety levels not found in other Lithium-Ion batteries. The six-pack is in constant communication with each other, with a Battery Management System (BMS) making sure battery levels and temperatures are within specifications. Think of the BMS as the ‘brain’ in an Electronic Fuel Injection system. The BMS monitors current being delivered to the batteries as it recharges, and the state of charge of each cell to ensure all six modules are well balanced.

Valence says that their Saphion® technology does not contain any heavy metals and does not exhibit the “memory effect” of Nickel-Cadmium and Nickel-metal Hydride solutions. Apparently Saphion® technology has also demonstrated excellent shelf life, long cycle life and is maintenance free.

Despite being the absolute best electric bike seen so far on this planet, at about US$12,000 the initial cost to purchase one of these EnertiaBikes is still very high. You could buy a small 4-stroke moped and still save a lot on fuel costs. Electric bikes have traditionally been hampered by range (you can’t travel long distance on one) and high up-front costs. The batteries on the Enertia have a service life of about 32,000km. Not sure what the replacement cost for the 6 batteries is like but it won’t be a pittance.

SOURCE/PICS: BRAMMO ENERTIA BIKE WEBSITE

バイカーブードゥー

Want an electric bike, but the Brammo Enertia is too modern for you? Check out Hammarhead Industries Volta 102!

Based on a classic, James Hammarhead takes a Indian-made 2002-2009 Royal Enfield Bullet, and creates his Volta 102 using a 102 Volt LIFEPO4 pack 6KW battery mounted in the frame to power an EnerTrac MHM-602 motor, engineered and manufactured by EnerTrac Corp., in the rear hub.

Construction takes about 90 days and will cost you a whopping US$18,500 though!

More at the Hammarhead website.

Star Trek is a 2009 science fiction film directed by J. J. Abrams and written by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman. It is the eleventh film based on the Star Trek franchise and features the main characters of the original Star Trek series, who are portrayed by a brand new cast.

The film uses the concept of time travel to introduce an alternate timeline that revises the continuity of the original series and the previous movies. It explores the previously unexplored origin stories of James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) and Spock (Zachary Quinto), before they unite aboard the USS Enterprise to combat Nero (a heavily disguised Eric Bana), a Romulan from the future who threatens the United Federation of Planets and Earth itself!

Growing up without his father, Kirk becomes an intelligent, reckless, and cynical young man. However, as many intelligent but reckless and cynical young man do, he rides a motorcycle. Not just any motorcycle, mind you but some sort of futuristic, hub-less, spoke-less non-internal combustion engine model.

バイカーブードゥー

Some of us may remember Akira, a 1988 Japanese anime film version by Katsuhiro Otomo, which was based on his original manga comic story. The story is about characters in post-nuclear war 2019 Tokyo, where Neo-Tokyo is filled with protestors, teenage bikers, soldiers and street gangs.

Central character Kaneda, a biker who attends reform school battles with his Capsule Motorcycle Club against the Clown bike gang and rides a really cool (how can he afford it!?) bike which has been the subject of the manga, anime and several attempts to produce 1:1 scale Akira-influenced bikes. Bandai also made a highly detailed model, which I recently acquired (and will review here later). McFarlane Toys had earlier made a plastic version whereas the Bandai version seems to have a metal subframe and lots of options to remove and add on bodywork.

In the anime, the sound of the Kaneda bike was produced by mixing the sound of a 1929 Harley-Davidson with the sound of a jet engine! The design was supposedly by a former Honda R&D engineer who left Honda to work for White House, a Japanese custom bike company. The manga showed the Kaneda bike with a Honda logo whereas the anime had a (sort of) BMW logo.

The Kaneda bike has become something of a motorcycling icon, despite being a work of fiction! Thousands of moped riders in Malaysia and elsewhere proudly placed ‘Akira’ stickers on their helmets, and the bike has embedded itself in the psyche of bikers everywhere. In addition to the manga, anime, toys and DIY replicas, an upcoming live action movie is in the works. More on that later.

バイカーブードゥー

You may have already read about the Swiss-designed Acabion GTBO, a two-wheeled enclosed motorcycle with a 750hp turbo-charged engine dreamed up by Lenka Mikova and Peter Maskus. It sure looks impressive, doesn’t it? It’s basically an enclosed hybrid-drive (electric motor assisted for low speeds) motorcycle which runs on two wheels under normal running conditions, with two outrigger wheels which lower themselves automatically at low speeds if balance is lost, or at high speeds. The aerodynamic shape is touted to enable the Acabion to save fuel, become very efficient and economical to run.

But the question begs to be asked … just how practical is it? For one thing the prices start at 1.83 MILLION Euros. That’s US$2.714 million / RM8.733 million, which is just mind boggling as I believe that’s about what Kenny Dreer‘s new Norton Commando took to develop! It takes three years to build an Acabion so be prepared to wait. What’s the turning circle like on this thing (it looks long)? How does it fare in start-stop urban traffic?

I’ve always been interested in alternative modes of travel so the Acabion really intrigued me, and it pains me to write something that sounds negative but transportation and mobility shouldn’t be only for a selected elite. Without prejudice, sorry Acabion but in my humble opinion right now even a T-Rex or a Carver are starting to look more affordable!

バイカーブードゥー

Brammo Motorsports, headed by CEO Craig Bramscher first came to my attention by producing the Ariel Atom in the US under licence from Ariel UK. Recently they’ve ventured into Electric Bikes! The Brammo Enertia electric bike is an urban commuter bike which can exceeds 80 km/h and has a 60 km range on a single 3-hour charge. At roughly US$.32 a fill-up and under one-cent a mile – it is positioned to be the compelling green alternative for the new urban consumer.

Let’s take an in-depth look at the Brammo Enertia Bike. Text adapted from Enertia Bike website.

CONCEPT

The Enertia was designed as a response to issues like global warming and overdependence on foreign oil. Brammo Motorsports decided to focus on elements which exposed the fun aspects of bike riding by designing a lightweight electric motorcycle.

A balance between the past and present was sought after and it appears Brammo have achieved something truly extraordinary. Their choice of materials, colours and textures bring out a sense of the highest levels of quality.

CHASSIS

Basically a stiff connection between the front fork and rear suspension pivot, the Enertia’s chassis took a lot of brainstorming, conceptualizing and trials before the design team arrived at the chassis you see here. It’s hard to make things simple!

The Brammo Enertia chassis is basically an “H” shaped beam which is left exposed from the side of the Enertia as an exposed carbon fiber line from the neck down to the rear suspension pivot. The “H” beam carries the batteries by forming two opposing trays which hold 3 batteries facing upwards and 3 downward-facing batteries. The electric motor is structurally face-mounted in the motor bay, upon which the rear suspension pivot is located. The ingenious packaging of the Enertia results in a compact electric bike with excellent stiffness and centralisation of mass. This in turn enables the Enertia Bike to handle easily and maneuver at all speeds. To date this is the most ingeniously packaged e-bike I’ve ever seen!

A hollow carbon fibre monocoque frame was designed for extreme lightness and stiffness, while managing to remain extremely simple. The frame weights only 7.3kg, much less than conventional production bike frames.

Brammo’s composite team lays up resin-impregnated carbon fibre fabric which is cut into specific shapes on a computer controlled machine, into CNC machined moulds. The fabric is layed up with a specific orientation and layering method. After this process is complete the chassis is baked in an autoclave at temperatures up to 350° F. The chassis is then clear coated for UV protection and aesthetics.

POWERTRAIN

Unlike conventional motorcycles, the Enertia Bike was engineered to have no transmission. The electric motors output shaft delivers power to the rear wheel directly via chain drive. The rear suspension consists of a high strength steel tubing swing arm and an adjustable air shock.

PERFORMANCE

Blessed with low inertia, the Enertia is able to put out 100% of its torque from ZERO rpm! At its fastest setting, the Enertia accelerates from 0-30mph in 3.8 seconds. A choice of power settings enables the Enertia rider to choose between high power/shorter range and lower power/maximum range. There’s also Brammo’s ‘Momentum software‘ to enable the owner to download information on their own driving habits so that performance settings can be customised.

The average US commuter travels about 47 miles at an average speed of 52 km/h daily. The Brammo Enertia can go up to 72 kilometres at 40 km/h. Top speed however, is 80 km/h!

ADVANCED BATTERY TECHNOLOGY

Six Lithium Phosphate battery modules are used in the Enertia. Supplied by Valence Technologies, Inc. of Austin, Texas, these batteries provide exceptional life and safety levels not found in other Lithium-Ion batteries. The six-pack is in constant communication with each other, with a Battery Management System (BMS) making sure battery levels and temperatures are within specifications. Think of the BMS as the ‘brain’ in an Electronic Fuel Injection system. The BMS monitors current being delivered to the batteries as it recharges, and the state of charge of each cell to ensure all six modules are well balanced.

Valence says that their Saphion® technology does not contain any heavy metals and does not exhibit the “memory effect” of Nickel-Cadmium and Nickel-metal Hydride solutions. Apparently Saphion® technology has also demonstrated excellent shelf life, long cycle life and is maintenance free.

Despite being the absolute best electric bike seen so far on this planet, at about US$12,000 the initial cost to purchase one of these EnertiaBikes is still very high. You could buy a small 4-stroke moped and still save a lot on fuel costs. Electric bikes have traditionally been hampered by range (you can’t travel long distance on one) and high up-front costs. The batteries on the Enertia have a service life of about 32,000km. Not sure what the replacement cost for the 6 batteries is like but it won’t be a pittance.

SOURCE/PICS: BRAMMO ENERTIA BIKE WEBSITE

バイカーブードゥー